Kitchen manufacturers have high demands for their suppliers, and this is no different for Furnipart, which designs and delivers handles to companies such as HTH and Kvik in Denmark.
Logistics Manager Jørgen Rask is responsible for the value chain across the company, and he tells us how the management team at Furnipart uses ABC Cloud to monitor key indicators, stay focused with a single rulebook and “speak the same language”.
Overview and execution – one place
Jørgen, what was the background for the project?
“There were several factors. We wanted to do something more specific to reduce our inventory value, eliminate the dead products and increase the turnover rate. And most of all, we needed an overview tool to monitor these important KPIs.”
“We do not have the option of sending products back against a credit note. Previously, we sent project sales lists which we extracted from our own system to salespeople in Excel. But before the salespeople had finished updating the lists, they were out of date.”
“The purpose of using ABC Cloud was to collect things – gain overview and execution – in one place.”
Better communication between sales and logistics
So how do you do it today, specifically?
“All our communication is based on ABC Cloud. I watch the numbers all the time, and then I have meetings with the logistics analyst and director every two months at which we go through the numbers and checklists we have prepared. At the meetings, we also make new lists of the items belonging to our three sales managers, and in connection with these lists, we have made a rule that their inventory value cannot exceed 20% of turnover.”
“If some KPIs stick out on that list, we pull them out and review them every two months. They have to explain why this is the case. It might be a product they have ordered specifically for a customer. If so, the sales manager can then launch activities with sales support, who will investigate what is going on with that customer. This whole process, and the visibility, allow a higher level of focus, which means they should allow learning.”
Our customers’ needs are important
What are the biggest wins with ABC?
“Clearly transparency. Now we can see why our inventory is the size it is. And – with the help of ABC Softwork – we have set up some standard procedures, rules and frameworks for the management of each ABC category, which the board has embraced.
Now the board says this is a great tool too, because they can see that the fast-growing goods disappear again.
And we have much better control of the contracts behind the customer-specific products. So we know that specific products we make will also be sold as agreed. That makes a huge difference,” says Jørgen, and continues:
“It has also created a much better dialogue between sales and logistics. If sales report a demand, we can now see directly how that demand has looked over the last few years and make a decision based on that. So we can have this dialogue. Because it IS important that we accommodate the customer’s needs, but sometimes they just don’t hit the mark in terms of what they can sell.”
According to Jørgen, the turnover rate is already rising, and with their far more transparent supply chain the team is now excited about meeting the industry’s high demands.
About Furnipart
Furnipart is one of the leading companies in the supply of knobs and handles. Since its inception in 1977, Furnipart has achieved great success with its modern and exclusive designs, designed by people such as Jesper K. Thomsen. Today, the company has a turnover in the tens of millions of euros, and can thus call itself the market leader in Northern Europe.